Selection of interrelated options through a software application is a common experience for computer users. From configuring new or existing software applications to on-line purchasing of configurable products, users make choices in many different areas. In a configurable environment, some options may conflict with others resulting in unavailable options or configurations. Different applications deal with unavailable options in differing manners.
For example, a user installing a software product may wish to select an option, but that option may be unavailable and an icon associated with the unavailable option(s) may be grayed out. Other visual clues about the unavailability may also be encountered such as specific icons, complete hiding of the options, etc. The unavailable option may become available if the user selects other options. Thus, the user wishing to use this currently unavailable option has to navigate to the other option(s), unselect them or select other options, and then navigate back and select the newly available made option. If the other options are unknown to the user, she may have to go through a trial-and-error process or read help texts to understand the acceptable configurations, which may degrade the user experience with the installation process. Similar frustrations may be experienced in on-line purchases of configurable products, services, and comparable processes.